Tag Archives: uf anime club

Welcome back!
This week I watched Glasslip, a 13 episode romp through an unusual clump of teenage angst. It ran weekly from July to September 2014. Unlike most anime I’ve seen, Glasslip started as a television show and has since been adapted into a manga series and light novel. We begin with 18-year-old high school student Fukami Toko, who wants to be an artist, and has an affinity for drawing the chickens her high school keeps around. Her parents own an art studio where they blow glass, and she is learning the family craft in her spare-time.

Toko is making a thing.

She’s a pretty normal girl, except for the fact that occasionally when she sees sparkly things, she sees into what she’s pretty sure is the future.

space eyes future time!

We’ll get back to that in a minute. Okikura Kakeru (say that five times fast!) is the new transfer student who takes an interest in Toko. She first sees him out of the corner of her eye and immediately thinks of Michelangelo’s famous statue of David, so weirdly the nickname sticks with Kakeru. He is shrouded in mystery for a few episodes, but it turns out he also has the ability to see (well, hear) into the future. His mother is a world-class pianist, and whenever he hears her music, he hears something from what he’s convinced is the future.

our main characters with their school’s chickens

We follow Toko and Kakeru as they try to figure out their psychic gift. They unlock clues bit by bit over the series, teasing out hints here and there and spending an exceptional amount of unsupervised time together. When they do spend time with friends, Toko and Kakeru hang out with a tight-knit band of friends that Toko has been close to for years. They fall into tropes as you might expect; there’s Shirosaki Hiro, a nice, considerate dude whose grandfather owns a cafe. Next we have Nagamiya Sachi, a sickly, soft spoken, super smart chick. Yanagi Takayama is a really pretty and also kind-of-shallow part-time model, and finally Imi Yukinari, a nice enough guy who is an athlete tortured by a sports injury.

The gang.

So much angst ensues.

Characters fall in and out of love with one another; very little schoolwork gets done. They all have to decide what they’re doing after high school. Glasslip was altogether unremarkable, except for the paranormal aspect of it. I actually really enjoyed that bit, although other reviews I’ve read saw that as a detriment. That said, I did keep coming back for more. It was enjoyable enough, but forgettable in the vast sea of available content. You can watch it here → http://www.crunchyroll.com/glasslip

I give Glasslip 6 out of 10 Golden Tanukis. I recommend it if you have a lot of time on your hands, and enjoy the heart-pounding terror of watching high school students give their confessions of love to one another.

Thanks for reading! Until next week, here are some gratuitous chickens.

Stephanie is a UF alumnus who enjoys baking, reading, cats, and the internet. Also anime. OK mostly anime.